Campuses across the country continue to confront a surge in mental health challenges among students, a trend exacerbated by the disruption and social isolation that occurred during the pandemic. According to the 2023 Healthy Minds Study, an annual survey of college students, record-high shares of students reported experiencing depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Students struggling with their mental health often also struggle to complete their education. The leading reasons students consider stopping out of college are emotional stress or mental health concerns.
In acknowledgment of Mental Health Awareness Month, ACE is highlighting efforts from several member institutions to respond to the student mental health crisis.
Holyoke Community College
In 2020, Holyoke Community College (HCC) in Massachusetts kicked off a four-year collaboration with JED Campus, a program that helps institutions evaluate and enhance their mental health support services.
Through this program, HCC devised a comprehensive strategic plan for student mental health. The plan encompasses seven domains: developing life skills, promoting social connection, identifying students at risk, increasing help-seeking, providing mental health services, following crisis management procedures, and restricting means to self-harm. At the conclusion of the program, HCC will develop a plan to sustain its commitment to mental health.
As a result of joining JED Campus, HCC partnered with the Center for Human Development, a local nonprofit, in 2021 to expand its mental health support services. HCC students can now meet with a full-time counselor for individual or group therapy, access telemental health care, and receive referrals to other services in the Holyoke area.
Meanwhile, faculty and staff now receive training to recognize students at risk, providing an additional layer of support.
“HCC is known for its strong network of support services for students,” said Renee Tastad, assistant vice president of student affairs and dean of enrollment management. “This is one more way that we have dedicated ourselves to providing the support necessary to help students overcome barriers to success.”
Virginia Tech
At Virginia Tech, students may not need to leave their dorms to receive mental health care. In 2022, the university hired four therapists to live in campus residence halls. The therapists, known as “residential well-being embedded counselors,” provide a number of services, including drop-in sessions, crisis response, individual and group therapy by appointment, and referrals to other campus resources.
Placing counselors in dorms serves two purposes. It makes mental health services more accessible for students. It also relieves some stress for resident assistants (RAs), who lack the training to provide mental health care but increasingly had been approached at night by fellow students in crisis.
Jesus Santos, who served as an RA the first year with the new program, said the embedded counselors have improved the residential experience.
“Having a support system for residents so close to their home has been a great addition to campus and has allowed residents more access to mental health support,” he told Virginia Tech News.
Embedded counselors are available in the afternoon and until as late as 11 p.m. on weekdays. Most visits with embedded counselors take place between 5 and 10 p.m., and about 40 percent of students drop in.
Regina Ray, an embedded counselor, told The Chronicle of Higher Education that these figures demonstrate the program’s success at removing “as many barriers as possible” to mental health care, “which is what our true nature of the work was about.”
Georgetown University
Georgetown University encourages professors to incorporate discussions of mental health and wellness into a selection of their courses through the Engelhard Project for Connecting Life and Learning.
In Engelhard courses, faculty integrate an aspect of mental health or well-being into the primary course content by providing relevant readings, inviting campus resource professionals to speak about the well-being topic, and assigning reflective writing exercises. The project aims to increase the campus community’s wellness and forge stronger relationships between students, faculty, and staff.
Students who have taken these courses speak enthusiastically about them.
“I think it’s the biggest component that made a difference in my education,” Vanesa Carrillo, a 2023 Georgetown graduate, told The Hoya, the university’s student newspaper.
Professors in any department, from psychology to math to business to performing arts, are welcome to teach their courses as Engelhard courses. Since the project began in 2005, it has expanded from five courses to approximately 40 courses per semester, and over 25,000 students have taken an Engelhard class.
According to Georgetown President John DeGioia, the program changed the university for the better.
“When you create an environment where it is normal, it’s appropriate, it’s encouraged, it’s valued to talk about the kinds of challenges that every one of us faces,” he said, “I think this provides a much healthier environment for our entire community.”